Aside from the Dallas Mavericks, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist received plenty of interests from other NBA teams after he was bought out by the Charlotte Hornets last Saturday. However, he opted to sign with the Mavs and pair up with the Euro duo of Luka Doncic and Kristaps Porzingis.
As it turns out, playing with Luka and KP was not the reason he chose the Mavs. Apparently, all Kidd-Gilchrist needed was a “cool” conversation with head coach Rick Carlisle for him to make up his mind about moving to Texas.
Per a report by Callie Caplan of Dallas Morning News, the 26-year-old defensive specialist spoke to Carlisle over the phone a few days before he made his decision to sign with Dallas.
Kidd-Gilchrist was reportedly left impressed by their genuine conversation and thought to himself, “Ok, This is cool.”
The 6-foot-6 Kentucky product did not stay in the free agency pool for long, as he officially became a Maverick just a few days after the call with Carlisle. The Mavs had to waive Ryan Broekhoff to make room for their new swingman.
MKG faced the media for the first time as a member of the Mavs on Tuesday and talked about starting fresh with Dallas.
“Being in a place like Charlotte for eight years, I was 18, now I’m 26,” Kidd-Gilchrist said in a clip from Brad Townsend of Dallas Morning News. “I’m going to push myself. I’m going to push our team and … I want to add to the culture and win some games.”
Rick Carlisle, meanwhile, described Michael Kidd-Gilchrist as gamer and a hell of a competitor. He is expected to make his Mavs debut against the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday at American Airlines Center.
Dallas gets a legitimate wing defender in Kidd-Gilchrist and now have a capable one-on-one defensive threat that can match up with some of the best players in the league. However, MKG's broken jumper has prevented him from making progress on the other end of the floor throughout his almost eight-year stay in Charlotte.
Kidd-Gilchrist has only appeared in four games for the Hornets this season with averages of 4.0 points and 2.9 rebounds.
Follow Us
Subscribe